High-rate growth of epitaxial Si films at low temperatures by atmospheric pressure plasma chemical vapor deposition has been investigated. Si films are deposited on (001) Si wafers in gas mixtures containing He, H-2 and SiH4 at substrate temperatures ranging from 530 to 690 degreesC. The films are characterized by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. High quality Si films with excellent crystallinity and surface flatness similar to or better than those of commercial Si wafers are grown in the area where the deposition gap between the substrate and rotary electrode is small. Especially, in epitaxial Si film grown at 610 T with an input plasma power of 2000 W, no lattice defects are observed by transmission electron microscopy. The maximum growth rate is approximately 6.6 mum/min at 690 degreesC with 1500 W and 1.2 mum/min at 610 degreesC with 2000 W, which is approximately 20-30 and 4-6 times faster than that obtained by thermal chemical vapor deposition at approximately 1100 degreesC, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.